Kurdistan’s Weekly Brief August 9

Turkey

On August 3, 2016 the Diyarbakır Governor’s Office declared another curfew in several villages in both the Lice and Hani districts. The curfews grounded military operations that were to be launched in those areas, according to ANF. The curfew will remain in place until further notice.

Several members of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), along with a number of students, were arrested by police during home raids in Antalya Province. Meanwhile, 48 Kurdish political prisoners were transferred from Diyarbakir to Antep prison after the Turkish government declared a “State of Emergency” in the country. Meanwhile HDP held a massive rally in the Kurdish city of Batman calling it ” No to coups, Democracy now”

A ten-page application requesting an injunction order for imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan was rejected by a Turkish Constitutional Court. The application, which was filed by the Asrin Law Office, included evidence that Ocalan’s rights had been violated, that he was targeted during the coup attempt, and that there had been no communication with him since the coup attempt.

Syria

Facts about the Manbij Liberation Operation:

The operation was launched on June 1, 2016 by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the U.S.-led coalition. The SDF created the Manbij Military Council (MMC), an alliance force comprising both Kurds and Arabs.
200 villages surrounding Manbij have been liberated. 4000 ISIS members have been killed – 2300 of their corpses are with the MMC controlled morgue.

On June 5, MMC named the liberation of Manbij the Martyer Faisal Abu Layla campaign in memory of the killed MMC commander Faisal Abu Layla.

The over two-month operation resulted in the freeing of 140 thousand civilians from the city and surrounding villages. The first phase of the operation was to cut the vital supply line to ISIS from Jarabules and Al Bab. MMC was able to seize 7 armories of weapons and improvised explosive devices (IED) from ISIS. MMC also destroyed 20 car bombs in addition to defusing over 20,000 mines.

In early July the second phase of the operation started. ISIS used civilians as human shields leading the MMC to slow down the offensive near the city. MMC created a team of 15 people to evacuate civilians in special operations in addition to a team to defuse mines on the roads.
Source: Hawar News Agency

Iraq

The Kirkuk governor condemned ISIS for its execution of civilians in the Haweja district and called on the Iraqi Government to immediately initiate the liberation of the town from ISIS. He said “there aren’t any more excuses not to liberate Hawija after Tikrit, Ramadi and Falluja have been liberated.” After attempting to escape to Kirkuk city last week, thousands of civilians are now being held as hostages by ISIS in Haweja.

Because of the financial difficulties it continues to face, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) representation to Moscow has closed down. Aso Shekh Jangi the representative of the KRG in Moscow stressed that the KRG office has not received any budget for 11 months and, therefore, because of this financial crises, the KRG office in Moscow was shut down.

The governor of Sulaymaniyah and the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Iraq signed a $450 million funding agreement aiming to repair the city’s main waterline. After calls from the Sulaymaniyah administration to help the province with a potentially dangerous water shortage, the U.N. decided to fund a project that develops Dokan Lake, the main source of the province’s water.

Iran

Around 25 Kurdish prisoners were executed on charges of “terrorism” in Iran on August 2. Human rights groups and international organizations condemned the Iranian authorities for executions, stating that authorities had used fake charges for political prisoners in Iran.

HRANA News Agency reports that on August 8, 2016 the families of 7 prisoners scheduled to be executed on August 9th gathered in front of Uremia Prison in protest. The authorities told them: “Don’t gather here. We’ll call you to come and receive the corpses.” Some family members were reportedly arrested during the gathering. The authorities threatened the families, saying that if any family members contacted the media, then authorities would not permit them to receive the corpses of their imprisoned family after their execution.